Skeletal remains found in Liberty County identified as female

An autopsy has determined that human remains found Sunday near Plum Grove in Liberty County belonged to an adult female.

Authorities say the woman's remains were discovered by the owners of a grassy lot on Road 3556 in the Grand San Jacinto Subdivision. The property owners reportedly had not visited their lot for two months prior to that day.

"The body was lying in an open field," said Sgt. Josh Cummins with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office. "The neighborhood is sporadically populated so people could have easily driven past the body and never noticed it. I am not surprised that it went unnoticed until now."

Nearly the entire skeleton of the woman was recovered, Cummins said, except for her feet and hands. He added it is normal for the feet and hands to be missing in such cases since these bones tend to be small and can be easily scattered or covered by soil.

The remains will now be sent to the Laboratory of Forensic Anthropology and Human Identification at the University of North Texas in Denton, where Dr. Gill King will work up a DNA profile.

"DNA testing will be conducted if Dr. King is able to pull DNA from the bones, that is if there are still samples there," Cummins said.

The DNA profile will then be matched to family members of known missing persons cases in the state. There are no known missing person cases in Liberty County that fit the time frame, so the search will be extended to neighboring counties and then across the state.

Several long black hairs were found along with the body, but Cummins said, "We can't say 100 percent if those hairs belong to the remains."

Clothing items were also recovered, which could help narrow the scope of the investigation if family members of missing persons are available to identify these items.

Since Sunday, the sheriff's office has been inundated by phone calls from family members and friends of missing persons in Southeast Texas, Cummins said.

"We are getting a lot of calls about it being one of the missing men from Liberty County, but we now know it was a female, so hopefully that will narrow the field," he said.

Texas EquuSearch volunteers will return to the Plum Grove subdivision Saturday morning, according to Capt. Ken DeFoor, spokesperson for the sheriff's office and local coordinator for Texas EquuSearch.

"We are going to gather at the sheriff's office in Liberty early Saturday morning and then be out at the scene by 9 a.m. We plan to broaden the search to look for more evidence," DeFoor said.

Since 2000, there have been nine unsolved missing persons cases in Liberty County — two involving women and seven involving men. Below is a brief rundown of each missing person:

• Patricia Small disappeared on May 11, 2002, at the age of 18. Her last known location was Liberty High School, where she was dropped off by a relative that day.

• Cynthia Laurie Washington disappeared on Feb. 4, 2008, at the age of 44. She was last seen boarding a bus in Dayton en route for San Antonio.

• Rodney Stokely disappeared on Jan. 22, 2008, at the age of 19. According to Cleveland Police Department, it is believed Stokely was picked up by a friend to attend a birthday party at Brookhollow Apartments in Cleveland. Stokely reportedly left the party after an argument broke out. He hasn't been seen since then.

• Larry Baker disappeared on Jan. 29, 2010, at the age of 55. The Liberty County Sheriff's Office has conducted numerous searches for Baker at his family's urging but so far no evidence has led to Baker's whereabouts.

• Edwin Clark Rogers disappeared on Dec. 30, 2011, at the age of 62. His Jeep was found parked alongside SH 321 but no sign of Rogers has ever been found.

• Dennis Rogers disappeared on March 8, 2012, at the age of 54. It is believed he went for a walk near his home on CR 347 South in Plum Grove and became lost in the woods. Rogers reportedly suffered from short-term memory loss. The last contact anyone had with him was a 911 call he made to the sheriff's dispatch center to say he was lost and had gone too far into the woods.

• Westley Moore disappeared on June 13, 2013, at the age of 30. He was last seen at his home in Rye.

• Clint Miller was 26 years old when he disappeared on May 25, 2015. On that day, the Liberty County Sheriff's Office received a fire call to Miller's home on CR 1335 B in Moss Bluff.

• Mark Larry Rhineburger was 39 years old when he disappeared on Feb. 15, 2012. Though he lived in Crosby at the time, Rhineburger's vehicle was found near CR 2148 at FM 787 in Romayor.